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We apply a soft computing method to generate country-specific economic sentiment indicators that provide estimates of year-on-year GDP growth rates for 19 European economies. First, genetic programming is used to evolve business and consumer economic expectations to derive sentiment indicators for each country. To assess the performance of the proposed indicators, we first design a nowcasting experiment in which we recursively generate estimates of GDP at the end of each quarter, using the latest business and consumer survey data available. Second, we design a forecasting exercise in which we iteratively re-compute the sentiment indicators in each out-of-sample period. When evaluating the accuracy of the predictions obtained for different forecast horizons, we find that the evolved sentiment indicators outperform the time-series models used as a benchmark. These results show the potential of the proposed approach for prediction purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of selective editing is to identify observations affected by influential errors. A score function based on the impact of the potential error on target estimates is useful to prioritize observations for accurate reviewing. We assume a Gaussian model for true data and an 'intermittent' error mechanism such that a proportion of data is contaminated by an additive Gaussian error. In this setting, scores can be related to the expected value of errors affecting data. Consequently, a set of units can be selected such that the expected residual error in data is below a prefixed threshold. In the context of economic surveys when positive variables are analyzed, the method is more realistically applied to logarithms of data instead of data in their original scale. The method is illustrated through an experimental study on real business survey data where contamination is simulated according to error mechanisms frequently encountered in the practical context of economic surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a new method to measure the unexpected component of dividend announcements. While measures used previously were based on various arbitrary models of dividend expectations, our suggested method compares the reaction of stock and option prices to dividend announcements. Our measure is compared to commonly used model-based measures, to a Box-Jenkins time-series- based measure, and to a Value-Line Investor Survey-based measure of dividend surprises. The new measure is more highly correlated with the market's reaction to the announcements than are alternative measures of dividend surprises. The new measure is also shown to be insensitive to the extent to which the options used to identify unexpected dividend announcements are in- or out-of-the-money. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reports on three surveys regarding the use of capital budgeting techniques which were given in 1970, 1975 and 1980. The difficulties which the differences in the various surveys present in regards of determining companies involvement in budgetary techniques are discussed. Differences which exist in the three surveys regarding the way in which companies use project evaluation techniques in order to evaluate capital expenditures are discussed. According to the article, the surveys showed that a shift was occurring in which sophisticated budgetary techniques were being used.

The article discusses the effectiveness of the comparability tables of the Census of Retail Distribution by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. The comparability tables were necessary because between the years of 1929 and 1939, retail outlets had shifted functions considerably, and a person using the Census information would have had to use their best judgment for specialty retailers. The author illustrates that the tables by the Census Bureau failed to illustrate proper comparisons between retailers of 1929 with those of 1939, and offers suggestions on how to improve the tables. The author's table is included in the article.

The author discusses the findings of the 2011 Cambiar Future of Research Study conducted by the journal to assess the growth prospects for corporate market research. The survey revealed the possibilities for major transformation of the industry by 2020. Several corporate researchers that are expected to undergo immense growth in 2020 include Starbucks Corp., Pepsi-Cola Co., and Novartis AG.

The article summarizes the findings of a survey conducted among 4,387 workers in low-wage industries in the three largest U.S. cities including New York City, Los Angeles, California and Chicago, Illinois. A rigorous survey methodology was incorporated in the study, which allows the researcher to reach the vulnerable workers who are often left out in standard surveys. Further, the study tries to answer the questions on how common workplace violations, which industries have high cases of workplace violations and who are the workers that are mostly affected by the violations.

Analysis of survey results from 440 manufacturing multinationals active in the Asia-Pacific shows that there are significant differences in the patterns of location decisions for different corporate activities in the region. Analysis of a random effects mixed model of activity location suggests relationships between a variety of location and firm attributes and foreign investment in different activities, and shows that the patterns of significance among the explanatory variables differ across different activities. The results are consistent with the view that firm activities, along with resources and knowledge, should be viewed as fundamental components of the multinational firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the effect of marketization on personal income inequality in urban China as mediated by three types of work units: low-profit state firms (LPFs), high-profit state firms (HPFs), and market firm (MFs). Results based on two urban survey data sets show that while the influence of redistributive power declines, returns to human capital do not monotonically increase as a firm's proximity to the market increases. Although returns to human capital are higher in the market sector than in the state sector, the effects of education on earnings are weaker in HPFs than LPFs within the state sector. The inconsistency is attributed to the effects of bonuses that are equally distributed among employees in HPFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an extensive analysis of the behavior of union and nonunion wages over the business cycle, using quasi-panels developed from the Current Population Survey, in an attempt to resolve or reconcile competing claims about the cyclical behavior of union and nonunion wages. Union wages were roughly as procyclical as nonunion wages were, prior to the early 1980s. Substantial reductions in union wage procyclicality since then are associated with reductions in the procyclical exercise of bargaining power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Business Longitudinal Survey (BLS) was designed to provide information on the growth and performance of Australian employing businesses and to identify selected economic and structural characteristics of these businesses. The coverage of the survey is extremely broad; it includes new and existing businesses, industrial relations and business operational information, business practices and intentions and business performance and competitiveness. The unit of reference for the BLS is the management unit. The management unit is the highest level accounting unit within a business, having regard for industry homogeneity, for which accounts are maintained. The aim of the BLS was to provide information on the growth and performance of Australian employing businesses and to identify selected economic and structural characteristics of these businesses. To a large extent, these aims have been met by the BLS. Although the coverage of the survey is extremely broad, the information released from the BLS is of a high quality.

Using union contract and industry wage survey data, this article examines the effect of discounting on cooperative bargaining behavior by unions and firms. Game theory predicts that higher discount rates raise the temptation to defect from cooperation. Measures of cooperative behavior included the presence of merit pay, incentive pay, wage-employment guarantees, or labor-management study committees. Discount rates were proxied by the relevant industry's failure rate. Failure rates generally had negative effects on cooperation. Industry Wage Survey results showed larger effects for union than nonunion establishments, providing support for the union bargaining framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of a survey which examined the attitudes of U.S. and Canadian executives toward business opportunities in China, and the reasons for U.S. companies' greater involvement in the Chinese market than their Canadian counterparts. Differences between U.S. respondents and Canadian respondents suggested that foreign investors may share some general concerns about China but that different groups may also have different concerns. Respondents saw the Chinese market as providing many potential opportunities, largely as a function of the size of its internal market. The market is less attractive when one considers the Chinese government restrictions and economic and business practice differences.

This article examines the effects of tax policy on capital expenditures based on a survey of firms in non-financial industries in the U.S. The author cited that various analyses attempted to estimate the effects of investment tax incentives by incorporating their presumed implications in more general variables such as the costs or rental price of capital and estimating the parameters of these more general variables. A brief discussion on inconclusive results of inclusion in general investment functions of survey responses as to anticipated or actual effects of the tax measures on expenditures was provided by the author.

This article presents information regarding the books on economics received by "The Quarterly Journal of Economics." Some of the books include "The Battle of Plains," "Seasonal Variations in Employment in Manufacturing Industries," by J. Parker Bursk and "An Economic Survey of Australia," edited by D.B. Copland.

The article focuses on a survey of industries in Japan by Japanese engineers. In a recent survey on the hot companies to watch in the semiconductor industry, most companies generated interest for rethinking the business model, and few were established semiconductor players. The only two companies rated for purely technological breakthroughs were from the automotive sector Toyota Motor Corp. for its high quality, and Bridgestone Corp. for its fast-reacting powder for displays. Japanese startup System Fabrication Technologies also got attention for its new approach to combining logic and memory chips into a chip-like system-in-a-package.

Presents the results of a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics survey on the computer and data processing services industries, conducted in 1987 and covering ten occupations and 18 metropolitan areas. Findings concerning the average salaries of top-level systems analysts and systems programmers, compared with lower-level key entry operators; Regional differences.

The article presents an abstract to a paper on a survey of women in nontraditional sales jobs. The paper is written by Michael McDonald and William B. Smith. The purpose of this article is to summarize results of a survey administered to sales women actively working in seven industries.

Abstract: This paper presents arguments for the importance of market organization in the development of agro-bioenergy industries. One organizational theory, transaction cost economics, highlights the proposed perspective and defines organizational problems that can be typical in agro-bioenergy industries. After considering general features of the current US biopower industry, relying on a survey of power plants actively using forestry and food-processing co-products as fuel, two hypothetical examples illustrate the transaction cost perspective and potential problems that can arise. Finally, possible organizational features and organizational forms in the future agro-bioenergy industry, based on crop residue and energy crops in the US, are presented utilizing transaction cost economics as a foundation. The paper concludes that if organizational issues are not adequately addressed by social scientists, new and mature technologies alike may stay under-developed commercially. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Presents information on a survey of virtual reference activity in musical libraries conducted by the Information Sharing Subcommittee of the Music Library Association in December 2002. Origin of the survey; Methods used to collect data for the survey; Forms of musical virtual references studied.

Abstract: The focus of this paper is on issues arising from the comparison of business survey indices (BSI’s). Any BSI may be contaminated by false reports or contagion effects so that a crude comparison of BSI’s across different groups is not appropriate. A method is therefore proposed for transforming different business survey indices into comparable indices using the generalized birth and death process. The method is carefully designed in order to filter out contagion effects by taking respondents’ interaction into consideration. The method also improves the comparability of the BSI’s by adjusting the information precision of different survey groups. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Investigates the benefits and challenges of constructing data bases that link firm and worker characteristics. Interactions between employers and employees; Use of household and business surveys to collect information from employees; Impact of changing trade persons, technological developments, and the restructuring of jobs; Confidentiality and privacy respondents; Program development and policy analysis.

This article focuses on social problems in the U.S. "The Thirty-fifth Annual Report of the Charity Organization Society of Buffalo, 1912" carries on its title page "Poverty is growing less in Buffalo." In 1881 when the population of Buffalo was only one third of what it was in 1912 the number of families dealt with by the society was practically the same. In 1876, the year before the charity organization society was born, one tenth of all the people in Buffalo were on the poor books, not including the city poor in institutions. "The Thirtieth Annual Report of the Charity Organization Society of the City of New York, 1882-1912," illustrates the wide range of view taken in recent years by charitable agencies. Several pages are devoted to the recent crisis in housing reform in New York city. There are chapters on the New York School of Philanthropy and the Charities Publication Committee, in which the work of industrial surveys is briefly summarized. According to the statistics collected in "Report of the National League for the Protection of the Family for 1912," the number of divorces in New England increased in 1911 as compared with 1910.